Food Drive Wall of Fame

Sandy Run Girl Scout Troop #21747

The Girl Scout Bronze Award is the highest honor a Girl Scout Junior can achieve. It represents what Girl Scouts can accomplish in their local communities. Five Girl Scout Juniors from Sandy Run Girl Scout Troop #2147 decided to hold a Philabundance food drive to earn their Bronze Award.

Olivia, Danni, Mia, Ava and Shannon dedicated many hours of brainstorming, planning and advertising for the food drive that was held on Saturday, June 14th at the Acme in Newtown, Pennsylvania.

Their hard work paid off–the girls far exceeded expectations and collected 1,097 pounds of donations! Not bad for five 11-year olds on a sunny, June afternoon! The girls used their individual skills, took action and made a difference!

“On June 14th, five girls from my girl scout troop, 2147, had a Philabundance food drive. It felt phenomenal helping people in need,” remarked Olivia. “I thought it was really fun passing out flyers and I loved how people were saying what we were doing was great! We worked really hard for a long time, but it was all worth it in the end!”

Destination Maternity Corporation Collection Competition

Destination Maternity Corporation is the world’s largest designer and retailer of maternity apparel. In the United States and Canada, as of September 30, 2013, Destination Maternity operates 1,907 retail locations, including 596 stores, predominantly under the tradenames Motherhood Maternity®, A Pea in the Pod®, and Destination Maternity®, and 1,311 leased department locations, and sells on the web through its DestinationMaternity.com and brand-specific websites. Destination Maternity also distributes its Oh Baby by Motherhood® collection through a licensed arrangement at Kohl’s® stores throughout the United States and on Kohls.com. In addition, Destination Maternity is expanding internationally and has exclusive store franchise and product supply relationships in India, the Middle East and South Korea. As of September 30, 2013, Destination Maternity has 143 international franchised locations, including 123 shop-in-shop locations and 20 Destination Maternity branded stores. Destination Maternity Corporation supports Philabundance annually and their food drives have steadily increased since their first drive in 2010. Destination Maternity team members have always shown their giving spirit, with an average of 1,000 lbs. collected for Philabundance annually, but for the 2012 food drive the Company decided to up the ante and turned their holiday food drive into a tournament style competition. Sixteen departments were divided into 8 competing brackets, with the brackets set up to pair “rival” departments or “rival” Vice-Presidents against each other.

The winning department in each bracket would win a holiday sweets tray with the overall winning department taking the coveted “trophy cup” and receiving a catered lunch. To keep the competition interesting, email alerts were sent out daily containing the department collection totals and a few well placed “challenges” to the Vice-Presidents. All of the cajoling and good-natured ribbing between competing departments was successful beyond anyone’s expectations, with a total of 10,184 lbs. collected. Destination Maternity found that the keys to a successful food drive were: an outgoing food drive coordinator, some friendly competition (a little trash talking doesn’t hurt) and continued updates that keep the food drive on employee’s minds.

Food for Fines Drive at the Community College of Philadelphia

The Library of the Community College of Philadelphia held its 4th annual “Food for Fines” food drive for donation to Philabundance. This year’s drive was held during the months of April and May. Students were allowed to bring in one food item in exchange for a one dollar reduction in their overdue fines. This year’s drive yielded 1049 pounds of food.

The “Food for Fines” drive was first held in 2009 as part of the Library’s observance of the American Library Association’s National Library Week observance. Each year student donations have exceeded that of the previous year. Food donations were accepted at the Main Campus and Regional Center Libraries.

Hersha Hospitality’s EarthView Fights Hunger

Our friends at EarthView, Hersha Hospitality’s environmental and conservation program, held a food drive and pledged to donate $1 for every can they raised. Well, they raised a total of 3,637 cans meaning an additional donation of $3,637, that’s nearly 11,000 meals for those in need!

And if that wasn’t enough, Hersh Hospitality’s Corporate office donated 80+ hours of volunteer time at our Hunger Relief Center! Now that’s how you fight hunger. We thank them and tip our hats off to their commitment to the fight against hunger!

EarthView is an initiative of Hersha Hospitality that delivers environmental and conservation programs that positively impact a hotel operation’s bottom line while simultaneously improving the well-being of our guests, our employees, our communities, and our planet.

Acero Precision Hosts A Little Food Drive Competition

In an effort to drum up holiday cheer, Acero Precision, a Delaware County manufacturer, held a food drive they developed into a three-week contest. The nine teams consisted of five to six employees and were chosen at random. After submitting a team name, each was given a cardboard box, holiday decorations and a list of accepted food items. The team who collected the most pounds of food would reign victorious and take home a $300 cash prize.

The groups were resourceful and several of them got their friends and family involved. Others turned to their neighbors and community by posting flyers with an assigned date and location to drop off donated bags of food. Each week they waited anxiously for the weigh-in results to see which team made the leader board. Even on the last day of the contest, the teams sent “Santa’s” runners to local grocery stores to buy more food.

In total, Acero Precision raised an astonishing 2,402 lbs of non-perishable food. The winning team, The Incredibles (rightfully so), collected 498 lbs of food, and gracefully decided to use their cash prize to buy the Acero employees lunch. Unexpectedly, for Acero, this event resulted in more than just a food donation. It instilled a sense of pride and camaraderie among the employees which has lasted beyond the drive. They are already planning how they will go bigger for the next Philabundance food drive.

Keswick Theatre Has Best Year Yet!

For six years, Glenside’s Keswick Theatre has partnered with Philabundance for a food drive during the holiday season. Each November they set a collection goal aiming to beat the previous year’s total. The Keswick’s staff members all pitch in with ideas on how to get the word out to not only their patrons, but members of the surrounding communities, working to establish the Keswick as a consistent hub for Philabundance donations. In 2011, an info sheet was placed in each outgoing ticket order by their diligent box office staff reminding patrons to bring food donations if they were attending a show, or to stop by any time in the month of November. The theatre’s marketing team included write ups and links to Philabundance donation information in their weekly emails, as well as encouraging their Facebook fans and Twitter followers to donate as well.

All of these efforts resulted in 1,407 lbsof food drive donations for Philabundance, their biggest year yet!

Big thanks to the team Keswick Theater for their determination and dedication to the fight against hunger. We are honored to have such great partners by our side!

Neiman Marcus of King of Prussia and Philabundance “Food Challenge”

The team at Neiman Marcus King of Prussia first presented the idea of an internal food drive competition in a morning meeting. The team with the most pounds per person as well the team with the most creative name would win.

Employees were divided into teams for a month-long food drive competition. Totals were posted on a giant poster board and as the competition got heated, the food came pouring in.

Thanks to the friendly competitive drive of employees, the food drive collected a total of 13,200 pounds of food. That’s enough to provide a meal to 13,200 people in our region.

Hats off to the team at Neiman Marcus King of Prussia for their dedication to the fight against hunger. Way to have fun while making a difference. We’re happy to have such great partners!

Chestnut Hill Seventh-day Adventist Church Divide & Conquer!

Divide and Conquer – a strategy also applicable to successful community food drives. That’s exactly what members of the Chestnut Hill Seventh-day Adventist Church did during their November 2010 collection.

In the weeks leading up to their drive, a call for food drive volunteers was issued during services and in the church’s bulletin. After a tremendous response came back from those willing to help out, coordinators divided everybody into six teams and handed out maps of Chestnut Hill and the surrounding neighborhoods. Using shopping bags donated from a local grocery store, each volunteer group went door-to-door in a different area dropping off bags and fliers they had made themselves encouraging residents to donate food from their pantries. The groups circled back later that day and picked up food from each house. Additional bags were dropped off during the week at the church before they came down to bring the food to Philabundance.

Chestnut Hill Seventh-day Adventist Church ended up collecting 1,516 lbs of food for those in need, an outstanding drive and certainly a model which other groups can follow.

Philabundance would like to thank the members of the Chestnut Hill Seventh-day Adventist Church for their efforts and generosity.

Wharton External Affairs Compete to Collect Food

For a 3rd year in a row, Staff of Wharton’s External Affairs Department displayed their commitment to fighting hunger by organizing a friendly competition among colleagues to encourage the collection of staple food items in high demand by the community

Wharton External Affairs Associate Director, Debra Kleine stated, “the reason we were inspired to do this for Philabundance was because it’s a way for us to give back to the community we operate within.”

Staff aroused momentum to collect these staple food items by creating a point system and competing teams. Here’s a sample listing of the point system used during this food drive.

Priority (3-points)

Recommended (2-points)

Canned/Shelf Stable Tuna

Mac & Cheese

Canned Beef Stew

Canned Pork & Beans/Baked Beans

Canned Chili

Canned Green Beans

Canned Pasta, Beef Ravioli

Canned Corn

100% Fruit & Vegetable Juice (plastic containers only)

Breakfast or Hot Cereal

Peanut Butter (plastic containers only)

Canned Fruit Cocktail

Jelly (plastic containers only)

As a result of the drive, employees collected nearly 2,000 lbs of food for those in need in the Delaware Valley. At the close of the drive, employees transported collected food from the 3rd floor of their building to the Philabundance truck in just 45 minutes. Impressive!

Philabundance would like to thank the staff at Wharton’s External Affairs for their generosity. The food collected will go far in the fight against hunger in the Delaware Valley.

Toll Brothers Offices Team Up To Fight Hunger

From December 17th through December 31st, employees from Toll Brothers offices held a division-wide food drive, encouraging staff and residents to donate non-perishable food items to benefit Philabundance. The official pick-up took place at their annual holiday party where staff were required to donate at least one non-persishable food item upon entrance. Total food donations amounted to about 1,000 pounds for those in need. Toll Brothers extends many thanks to residents at Naval Square for their great contribution to the cause.

Philabundance would like to thank the team at Toll Brothers for their generosity. The food collected will fulfill the increasing need way beyond the holidays.

Orlando T. White, Art Institute of Philadelphia

This year’s Residence Hall Association (RHA) Holiday Food Drive was great way to support Philabundance. Our food drive proved to be a great opportunity for our college students to learn about the importance of giving to those in need. It was wonderful seeing how much students care about their community. Not to mention, it was fun watching the students collect food for a great cause. We collected over 400 pounds of food—which was more than twice our goal! Working with Phillabundance was so easy and the toolkit provided was extremely helpful. We are already gearing-up for next year!

Josie and Amanda – Girl Scouts Give Back

Hi! Our names are Josie and Amanda and we are two ten-year old junior girl scouts from troop 7189 who live in Glenside, PA. The highest award a junior Girl Scout can earn is the Girl Scout Bronze Award. One of the requirements of the Bronze Award is to complete a service project. We made a Girl Scout promise to help others and this promise is why we chose to hold a food drive in our community of Glenside. We chose to donate all of the food items to Philabundance because the donations are distributed in Philadelphia and many of our local suburbs.

Holding a food drive is easy, even for a kid! First, we thought of an event that we knew a lot of people would attend. We both play softball for GYAC and we have an opening day parade every year. We knew this would be a great place to collect food items. Next, we went to the GYAC Board Meeting to present our idea and ask permission to collect food during the parade. They thought it was a great idea and they were very supportive. Then, we contacted Philabundance and got posters. We hung the posters all over Glenside. While we were busy hanging posters, GYAC sent an email to all of the players and their families asking them to donate food items on opening day. They even reminded everyone about the food drive in our local paper! Our family, friends and Girl Scout sisters helped us collect items by bringing a truck and wagons to the food drive.

We set a goal to collect 300 pounds of food but we actually collected almost 500 pounds! The community was very happy to donate and really liked the idea of helping others. We felt so proud and happy to live in a place with so many wonderful people! After the parade, we sorted the food items. We packed up all of the food we collected and brought it down to the Philabundance warehouse on Berks Street in Philadelphia. We hope to have another food drive next year during our opening day parade!

Adrienne Winney, Mt. Airy

We held the food drive because the issue of access to food is one that is very important to us. We both believe that access to healthy food – provided in a dignified manner – is important for everyone. Too often, low-income people are forced into dehumanizing situations in order to gain access to food; we feel this is disgraceful. As an organization, Philabundance seems to have a philosophy similar to our own in this regard. In 2008, in lieu of wedding favors, we made a monetary donation in honor of all the guests at our wedding. We love you guys!

The party idea was modified from a Christmas party some friends of mine throw every year in Florida. They call it a “Cookies and Cans” party – the hosts provide sugar cookies and decorations, and to get into the party, guests must bring either a food or monetary donation for their local food bank. We pretty much just stole their idea! We had a big house party and as a “cover fee” for the party invitees had to bring either cans or a monetary donation. Our friends and neighbors loved the idea and were very generous. We hope to do it once a year.

Young Person Exemplifies the Spirit of ‘Giving Back’

“I did the food drive because I saw homeless people who did not have any food. I wondered why they were there and I realized they were hungry. So, I decided to have a food drive and give food to Philabundance who gives out food to people who need it.

I started my food drive by writing a letter that said why I wanted to help the homeless and hungry. We set a goal of 1,000 pounds because last year I collected over 800 pounds of food. I also made a sign to let people know when to drop off food or money. I put it through my neighbors’ mail slots and my parents emailed it to our family and friends. We collected over 1,600 pounds of food that will feed over 1,300 people. This made me feel great!

Next year I want to get my friends and maybe my school [involved] with the food drive. Then, we could collect over 2,000 pounds of food.”

On Friday, April 23rd, 2010, 100 Comcast-Spectacor employees “paraded” down Pattison Avenue from the Spectrum to Philabundance’s South Philadelphia location to deliver a truck of food that they collected during an internal food drive for ‘Comcast Cares Day’. The Spectacor employees were joined by 76ers mascot, Hip-Hop as well as Philabundance staff, including CEO and Executive Director, Bill Clark, who helped unload and sort nearly 3K pounds of donated food items. Many thanks to the team at Comcast Spectacor for helping Philabundance fight hunger across the Delaware Valley.

St. Joseph University’s MBA Students Fight Hunger

As part of Managing Teams, an elective course in the MBA program at St. Joseph’s University, Donna, Raquel, Petra, Kavita and Kevin chose to hold a food drive for their final project. With the help of Walt, the store manager at the Pathmark on Monument Rd., they planned a food drive outside of the store on a busy Saturday with the goal of filling two Philabundance food drive boxes. The week before the event, they had cashiers put flyers into every customer’s shopping bag to spread the word. During the event, they passed out flyers that included a Philabundance shopping as a reminder to purchase something for the drive as customers shopped. In eight hours, these Master’s students were able to raise over 850 lbs. of food for Philabundance, filling three large food drive boxes and several smaller boxes! Intensive planning and a dedication to the event were the elements behind this successful drive.

The Evanson, Shulbank-Smith

The Evanson and the Schulbank-Smith families organized a neighborhood food drive together in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. They collected 1,480 pounds of food between March 1st through March 9, 2008. They took over the Darrell Brother food drive, which ended in 2007 after 18 years. Food Drives are essential for getting food onto the tables of families in need.

Frankford Candy Company

The decision to hold a food drive by the Frankford Candy Company was supported by their CEO, Stuart Selarnick and their CAO, Aseem Khera. Their drive started October 20 and was to end Nov. 20. Since Frankford Candy Company didn’t remove the drum they used to collect non-perishables items, employees continued to contribute for some time. Mr. Selarnick, believes the Frankford Candy Company should be supportive of the community. This Food Drive certainly shows that spirit.

Miquon Day Camp

200 children ages 4 to 10, attending the Miquon Day Camp were busy during the summer of 2007 with arts, crafts, athletics, swimming, music, drama, appreciation for the natural world… and conducting food drives.

The children and staff held a successful food drive to benefit those in need. The Miquon Day Camp shares the campus of the Miquon School, which is located in a protected 10-acre wooded valley in Whitemarsh Township.

Collin Darrell

In February of 2007 Collin and Alex Darrell of Swarthmore collected about three tons of food. Every February, since Collin, 23, was five and his brother Alex, 18, was six, the brothers have conducted food drives in their community.

On June 5, 2007, Philabundance presented the Harvesters of Hope Award to Alex and Collin. The award acknowledges individuals who are leading the way in the spirit of helping our neighbors throughout the Delaware Valley.

Below is a letter written by Collin Darrell early this year regarding food drives.

Eighteen years ago, I started a food drive and over the years it has developed into more than I could have hoped for. Some of my early memories from growing up are of this food drive and every year I become more aware of its importance and impact. It started shortly after seeing a homeless man near my dad’s office in center city Philadelphia. Being young and more impressionable, it hit me differently than it does the average passerby. After this encounter, I began questioning my parents for reasons that people were homeless and how they survived. After hearing that they depended on food shelters as a primary source of nourishment I asked how I could contribute to them and between me and my parents we came up with a collection box at my school.

I used this collection box for a few years but the amount of food generated wasn’t enough; I knew that there was a more effective way to collect food. This is when I came up with the idea of going to houses in the community. This idea has grown from thirty houses to two hundred fifty and so has the amount of food collected through the generosity of the towns I have lived in. This will be my thirteenth year asking Swarthmore to help me feed the homeless in the local area.

Any amount of non-perishable food would help this battle against hunger. Another form of donation could be a check made out to Philabundance. According to Philabundance, with one dollar they can buy five pounds of food and every pound of food can feed an adult a square meal. Generous financial donations made an enormous difference last year. Any contribution would be cherished by those who receive it, especially at this time of year, after the rush of holiday food drives. Please help by leaving your donation in the bag on the front porch. I will return next Sunday, March 4th, to collect all the bags. If you wish not to donate for any reason, I ask that you leave the empty bag outside so that I don’t disturb you; this helps me to make it around to all the houses in one day.

This is going to be my final year in this area and I would like it to be my greatest. This has been a part of my life that has helped lead me into my career in hospitality and shown me what the word really means. I really have enjoyed being the middle-man between Swarthmore’s generosity and the Greater Philadelphia area’s need. Whether you have donated for years or have been unable to in years past, please take this opportunity to help out those less fortunate than yourself. This is a way to give to the surrounding communities during a time of year when they usually get forgotten. I look forward to making my annual trip one last time and please look in the Swarthmorean for the final tally of food gathered from our community over the years.